The Waves is a newsletter reporting on the explorations of the Sea Life community. Sea Life, the main web forum at Dreampeace, aims to bring together a circle of dreamers from around the globe, collaborating in mutual dreaming adventures, and âdreaming with and for the earth itselfâ

This month, the people at Sea Life, completed a âPsychedelic Dreamingâ project, in which we aimed to learn about whether or not it were possible to take psychedelics within a dream, and if so what effects the experience might have. We focused our interest on three of earthâs natural bounty of psychoactive plants; namely peyote (mescaline), psilocybian mushrooms (magic mushrooms), and Salvia Divinorum (divinerâs sage).

Taking psychedelics within a dream obviously has some interesting advantages. For one thing, it gives us the opportunity to experiment freely without the concern of breaking the law or causing serious health damage. For another, it demonstrates the true power of the mind and itâs potential to experience altered states of consciousness without the need for sacraments.

An interesting avenue of exploration involved determining whether or not these experiences were based purely on subconscious expectations, or if it were possible to interact with the spirit of psychoactive plants directly through the dream state. Some of the dreamers at the forum, were concerned about the idea of actually intoxicating themselves with the plant through eating it in a dream, but were more comfortable with the idea of speaking to it directly, to learn about itâs role and significance to the earth.

Jeff, a friend from the Netherlands, had for 10 years been researching and using extensively all sorts of psychedelics in combination with meditation practises and an EEG machine (used to monitor brainwaves). He turned us on to some really amazing experiences. One involved the use of peyote, the common name for a hallucinogenic cactus, of which Mescaline is the active principal agent. A native to Mexico and the southwestern United States, it has been used for centuries by Native Americans in religious ceremonies.

âMescaline I found very special! In one dream I met a shaman, all dressed in plant clothes, who gave me mescaline and every time I took a sip of the peyote drink I saw a part of my subconscious getting unlocked. I saw explanations about why things happened the way they had happened in my life. It was awesome!

At the end of that dream I heard such beautiful music.. it was great! I felt so bad when I woke. I didnât want it to end.

In another dream, earlier in the year, I had come across a massive collection or list of various animals and plants, with healing/positive energies or uses. Plants have been used by human society for healing and other purposes over hundreds and thousands of years, so this came as no real surprise. However, what made this all the more relevant, is that one of the plants listed was âSalviaâ, of which one particular species, Salvia divinorum is psychoactive.

âThe main property of salvia divinorum is to induce flashes of REM activity during waking but without concomittant blockade of motor efferents. This leads to non-voluntary experiences of conscious dreaming or pre-conscious dreaming.â

Once again, Jeff had some relevant stories of his own to share with us.

âMany people including myself had a salvia trip where you indentified yourself with what you saw in front of you. I looked with my right eye in a dream and didnât see the world. I thought I was a fence around a garden and with my left eye I saw the normal world and the dream and I laughed that my other brain part was under narcosis. The funny thing thing is I proved with this (through the use of the EEG machine) that you can dream with just one brain hemisphere and not two as we do in normal REM sleep.â

Finally, Z managed to pull of a piece of magnificent dreaming, which gave us a whole new perspective on the link between psychedelics and sea life:

I am walking on a beach and enjoying the vast expanses of water as well as the sand and the rocks that surround me. I find this shell on the ground which I pierce open with a knife. It's some sort of oyster. I eat it and immediately my body begins to feel awkward. I feel as if what I have just eaten must have had some alkaloids in it because my vision changes. I see the ocean now with dazzling specs of light touching every inch of water. It also seems as if the water is moving much faster than moments earlier. As if it's in fast forward.

I continue to walk and find this grass path which seems to be manicured and thus probably man made. I walk down it and everything is so vibrant and glowing with energy. The track ends at this garden which has many weeping willows in it and old grecian statues. There are rays of light filtering through the trees as well as droplets of water falling from the leaves, as if it has just rained. The scene is magical, as if everything speaks to me. In this drug induced state everything is quite overwhelming.

A beautiful experience! I couldnât help wondering if Z had just stumbled upon something otherwise undiscovered. Wouldnât it be interesting if these psychedelic oysters actually existed! The funny thing was only days later a fun-loving new member by the name of âthreecasterâ joined us, sharing his thoughts on a band called âBlue Oyster Cultâ.

âI was originally told years ago (maybe I read it on the album) that the name was based on a group of islanders who were found by spanish sailors. These islanders had priests who would eat the local Blue Oysters for psychedelic divinations.â

Iâll leave with you the words of Morpheus, which I think help provide a bridge between exploration of the drug-induced realities, and the world of dreaming. âI believe the usage of these plants can help us to evolve unto greater potential. The only danger comes from the plants becoming crutches upon which we build that Evolutionary process rather than training wheels. My thinking is that they should help us along the path to a higher self, but like all âtoolsâ they are not meant to be carried on our backs once we have âcrossed the riverâ, so to speak.â

It will be true that the main property of salvia divinorum is to induce flashes of REM activity during waking but without concomittant blockade of motor efferents. This leads to non-voluntary experiences of conscious dreaming or pre-conscious dreaming. Psychotropic Medications